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IEF Annual Report 2004-2005

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT FORUM

ANNUAL REPORT

This annual report summarizes the activities and events of the IEF during
2004-2005. It was presented at the 9th General
Assembly of IEF in Orlando, Florida, USA on 16 December 2005.

EIGHTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE
INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT FORUM

The 8th Annual Conference of the International
Environment Forum (IEF) took place in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 15-17
October 2004 with about 50 participants, most of whom were not IEF
members. It was co-sponsored by the UNESCO Center for Women and
Peace in the Balkan Countries, the Hellenic Ministry of Public Education
and Religions, Directorate of Secondary Education / Western Thessaloniki,
Office of Environment Education, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
and the Environmental Education Center Eleftherio-Kordelio. The conference
focused on the role of the individual in achieving sustainability through
changing lifestyles and speakers from Greece, Germany, Norway, Spain and
Switzerland spoke on themes such as “Leading the transition to
sustainability: Global Challenges and individual action”, “Cultivating
elements of social sustainability”, “The Economic dimension of sustainable
lifestyles", "Environmental dimensions of sustainability", “Local-global
life-style links”, “The role of education in teaching sustainability" and
“Engaging in the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development in
Greece, Europe and the World.” The parallel electronic conference had 33
participants from 17 countries from Africa, Australia, Central America,
Eastern Europe, North America, the Pacific Islands, South America and
Western Europe, all sharing a joint interest in the subject of cultivating
sustainable lifestyles, due either to their chosen profession, their
studies, or their aim to lead a sustainable life.

8TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The 8th General Assembly was held on 17
October 2004 in Thessaloniki, Greece. In the election for the new Board,
14 votes were cast, of which 10 came via email. The following members were
elected (with the results of the election of officers within the Board
listed): Arthur Dahl (President, Switzerland), Peter Adriance (USA),
Sylvia Karlsson (General Secretary, Sweden), Irma Allen (Swaziland),
Roxanne Lalonde (Zambia), Gail Lash (Recording Secretary, USA), and
Charles Boyle (Australia). The consultation covered the development of
educational materials, possible alternative venues for the next annual
conference, how to activate a system of national focal points for the IEF
who could spread information on the IEF in each respective country and the
need to develop the newsletter. The General Assembly decided to encourage
the Board to apply for membership in the Consumer Citizenship Network.

GOVERNING BOARD

The Board has had four electronic meetings during the year in which all
members participated. This year the Board took several actions to support
the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development, following up on
the conference theme from the 8th Conference in Thessaloniki. It kept
adding resources to a website devoted to the decade, developed a distance
learning course on the theme together with the Wilmette Institute (see
below), applied for membership in the Consumer Citizenship Network,
mentored a number of young students who want to take up careers in support
of sustainable development and planned the 9th conference with a related
theme.

CORRESPONDENCE

Incoming emails have numbered over 215 during the administrative period,
outgoing over 200. This does not include correspondence on specific issues
and the internal emails among the Board members (around 350).

WILMETTE INSTITUTE COURSE

The Wilmette Institute Course on Sustainable Development and the
Prosperity of Humankind (by distance learning over the Internet) started
on 15 October 2005 with over 50 enrolments, and will run until 15 January
2006. The course is co-sponsored by IEF and the European Baha'i Business
Forum (EBBF), and all six faculty are IEF members. IEF members were given
a rebate on the fee. This is our first venture into distance learning, but
it seems to respond to a real need. The course is already stimulating
students to undertake activities on education for sustainable development
in their communities.

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UNITED NATIONS

The Major Groups Program in the UN Division for Sustainable Development
maintains a database of organizations active in the CSD process, for which
IEF provided an updated profile in 2005. However, the application for
consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United
Nations (ECOSOC) which IEF submitted in June 2004, had to be withdrawn in
early 2005 for political reasons. The Board will explore other ways to
continue to attend the Commission on Sustainable Development and to
participate in other UN-related activities until conditions allow us to
resubmit our application.

MAURITIUS INTERNATIONAL MEETING

The United Nations organized the Mauritius International Meeting on Small
Island Developing States in Mauritius on 10-14 January 2005, The IEF
President, Arthur Dahl, was able to attend as part of another delegation
and so could also represent IEF. Since IEF participates in the CSD
Education Caucus, the caucus designated him as their representative to the
meeting and asked him to preside and speak at their parallel event
"Engaging People in Sustainability: the Strategy" at the Civil Society
Forum on 11 January, which IEF co-sponsored. Panel presentations were
followed by a good discussion with the participants from Fiji, Guam,
Madagascar, Mauritius, New Zealand, Samoa, UN/DESA and UNDP. A report on
the event was circulated to the Education Caucus list-serve.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Mauritius participated
with a large delegation in the Civil Society Villaj (forum) preceding the
intergovernmental meeting. The IEF assisted by providing them with a
statement on "Small Island Developing States in an Integrating World"
which they printed and distributed widely. The head of the Baha'i
delegation participated in a panel on the role of faith communities. They
then organized a reception for participants at the Baha'i Institute after
the conference, at which Dr. Dahl spoke. He also spent an evening with
some of the young Baha'is to discuss the environment and Baha'i service.

COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 13

The 13th session of the Commission of Sustainable Development took place
in April 2005 and was the last one which IEF could be attend as an
observer on its WSSD accreditation. The IEF sent a delegation of four
members to the meeting: Elisabeth Bowen, Arthur Dahl, Mark Griffin and
Terry Robinson. The special themes of CSD 13 were human settlements, water
and sanitation just as the previous year but this time there were
negotiations among governments to produce new policy guidance.

The IEF delegation members followed a number of the intergovernmental
deliberations. They attended meetings with the Science and Technology
major group representatives. Our working relationship with the major group
representatives is strong. Members of the delegation also participated in
Education Caucus meetings and their side event on "Engaging People in
Sustainability". IEF co-sponsored the Baha’i International Community’s and
US Partnership for the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable
Development’s side event on the "Role of Faith Communities in Education
for Sustainable Development - Water, Sanitation, Human Settlements" in the
UN building. IEF delegates participated in a networking session on
"Engaging Faith Communities in the Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development" and in several courses of the learning centre including
"Science and Technology for Development", “How to Focus Integrated Water
Resource Management on Poverty Reduction”, “Sustaining the Dessert
Miracle: Water and Wastewater Management Under Adverse Conditions” and “UN
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development – Engaging Teacher
Education Institutions.”

ISSUE MONITORS

Mark Griffin, continued to serve as issue monitor for water issues and
attended CSD 13 in this role. Efforts to identify issue monitors for other
issues continued.

INFORMATION/OUTREACH

THE CONSUMER CITIZENSHIP NETWORK
The IEF formally applied for and obtained membership in the Consumer
Citizenship Network (CCN), a thematic network of 124 institutions
from 29 countries funded by the European Union in cooperation with UNESCO,
UNEP and international citizenship and consumer organizations. It is an
interdisciplinary network of educators who have a common interest in
consumer citizenship. IEF member Sylvia Karlsson attended a dinner of one
if the meetings of the working group on sustainable development in
Helsinki in October 2005 and initial consultations have been held among
several IEF members on possible contributions for the 2006 conference of
the network in Hamar, Norway. IEF member Victoria Thoresen is the
coordinator of the CCN.

GENEVA ENVIRONMENT NETWORK
Since the IEF mailing address is in Geneva, Switzerland, the IEF was
admitted to the Geneva Environment Network, comprising all the principal
intergovernmental, nongovernmental and academic organizations in the
Geneva area that are active on environmental issues. The network is
sponsored by the Swiss government, coordinated by the United Nations
Environment Programme, and based at International Environment House in
Geneva.

INTERNATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE
IEF was represented by its President, Arthur Dahl, at the International
Sustainability Conference in Basel, Switzerland, on 12-14 October 2005,
attended by some 200 academics and other specialists. Dr. Dahl presented a
paper in a session on the practical implications of integrating
sustainable development.

WORLD SCIENCE FORUM, BUDAPEST
On 12-13 November IEF president Arthur Dahl attended on behalf of IEF the
World Science Forum, organized by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in
collaboration with UNESCO and the International Council of Science (ICSU).
The first two days of the World Science Forum on the theme "Knowledge,
Ethics and Responsibility" were held in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences,
with some 300 leading scientists in attendance. The Minister of Foreign
Affairs presided at the opening session, which was addressed by the
President of Hungary, the Director General of UNESCO and the President of
ICSU. Speakers included two Nobel laureates, the EC Commissioner for
Science, the President of the European Research Council, the President of
the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Hungarian Minister for the
Environment, and Brendan MacKey of the Earth Charter Initiative, who was
a speaker at an IEF event in Johannesburg in 2002. The final day's
plenary was held in the Hungarian Parliament, with presentations by the
Hungarian Prime Minister and Minister of Education. Since participation
was by invitation only, the active involvement of the International
Environment Forum through its President represented another step in the
acceptance of the IEF by the scientific community as a viable partner.

Prior to the Forum Dr. Dahl was invited to the Central European
University's Environmental Sciences and Policy Department to give a
lecture on "Emerging Environmental Challenges", followed by a reception.

INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Mark M. Griffin attended the International Forum on Education for
Sustainable Development, Beijing, China (October 28 - November 1)
registered as IEF member and gave a presentation on the theme of “Adult
Education from Sustainable Systems of Knowledge” co-authored with Terry
Robinson.

LECTURES
The IEF President, Arthur Dahl, has been invited to lecture and give
courses on themes relevant to the environment and sustainable development
on a number of occasions, including at Baha'i summer schools in Cyprus,
Sweden and Italy, in Monaco, at the University of Corsica (organized by
IEF member Alvaro Martino), and at the University of Bari in southern
Italy, cosponsored by the Faculties of Science and Education. The Rector
of Bari University gave a long opening statement praising the Baha'i
principles and presented Dr. Dahl with the medal of the University.

MEMBERSHIP STATISTICS

In November 2004 there were 150 members from 50 countries and 26
Associates from 12 countries. In November 2005 there were 162 members from
47 countries, 1 youth member (under 18) and 26 Associates from 12
countries. This means the number of members increased this year by 8
percent. Below you see a list of Members and where they come from.

Countries (members)

Argentina (1)

Australia (8)

Barbados, West Indies (2)

Belgium (1)

Bolivia (4)

Bosnia and Herzegovina (1)

Cameroon (1)

Canada (12)

Colombia (1)

Czech Republic (3)

Denmark (2)

East Timor (1)

Ecuador (2)

Fiji Islands (1)

Finland (2)

France (3)

Germany (4)

Ghana (1)

Greece (1)

Grenada (1)

Guyana (1)

Hungary (1)

India (3)

Israel (1)

Malaysia (2)

Namibia (1)

New Zealand (6)

Norway (1)

Papua New Guinea/Australia (1)

Poland (1)

Portugal (1)

Republic of Ireland (1)

Russian Federation (1)

Slovakia (1)

South Africa (4)

Spain (1)

Suriname (1)

Swaziland (2)

Sweden (3)

Switzerland (4)

Taiwan (1)

The Netherlands (1)

Trinidad (1)

U.S.A. (56)

United Kingdom (17)

Vietnam (1)

Zambia (1)

DATABASE

The database has again been handled during the year very efficiently by
Judith Fienieg.

NEWSLETTER

LEAVES is only distributed to members and
associates but everyone can access it on the IEF web site. There has been
one issue during this activity year. Bettina Moser, IEF Member in Germany,
has continued the responsibility for the newsletter.

IEF WEB SITE

The web site of the IEF is hosted by the Baha'i Computer and
Communication Association (BCCA) at www.bcca.org/ief/.
The website contents include the announcement and programme for the
upcoming annual conference, previous conference reports, information on
the IEF, the newsletter LEAVES, a directory of members, reports and papers
from previous conferences, relevant statements of the Baha'i International
Community, resource materials and papers by members, selections from the
Baha'i Sacred Writings, and links to other relevant web sites. Part of the
site is in French and Spanish. The website is managed by Arthur Dahl.

THE WORKING GROUPS

The working groups have not been activated this year.

CONCLUSIONS

The focus of IEF activities this year has been on outreach through
participation in various conferences and partnering with other
organizations. Following the highly successful 8th IEF Conference in
Thessaloniki, the IEF was active at both United Nations events such as the
Mauritius International Meeting and CSD-13, and at scientific events such
as the World Science Forum and the International Sustainability
Conference. The admission of the IEF to membership in the Consumer
Citizenship Network and the Geneva Environment Network also represents
significant recognition of the contribution IEF can make.

A second important expansion of the work of IEF has been in the area of
education for sustainable development, including organizing the distance
learning course through the Wilmette Institute, courses at Baha'i summer
schools, and the preparation of the 9th IEF Conference in Florida on this
topic in collaboration with other organizations.